The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-10-29
ADVICE ABOUT SolLING-
Crops That Afford % Good and Reliable
Succession of Feed.

Succession of Feed.
Soiling has it's advantages and disad-
vantages, and under favorable circum-
stances it may be adopted with much
profit. AS the animals do not tread
the crops with their hoofs, heavier
growth is obtained from the same area,
usually computed as about double. 1t
does away to great extent with the
necessity for fences. 1t contributes to
the manufacture of more manure. The
objections to it are the additional care
and labor, and when land is cheap and
fields extensive, the owner will feel dis
posed to let the cattle have full range
and gather their own food. The saw
ing in quantity is matter of less con-
sequence to him. But when the land
is fertile and high-priced, systematic
soiling may pay well; for the owner
will find it to be important to obtain
as much feed as practicable for his linn
tied area, and he will have the benefit
of easy cutting and short haul.
To adopt an economical system of
labor, it will be desirable to have herd
|
or bi-weekly use of the moving ma
chine, and horse-rakes for gathering
the feed and wagons to draw it. On
very small places the owner must de-
pend on his hand labor, and on having
sufficient personal leisure to do the
work. There is no question that when
the country becomes older and land
more valuable, soiling will become
moro common in summer, in connec-
ton with ensilage for winter, although
the additional care which it will re-
quire will be constant temptation to
continue the common practice of
grazing.
The following crops will afford a
good succession of feed: l. The first
succulent food in spring may be OBJ
tanned from field parsnips, which may
be planted the previous year to suffi-
cient extent to give the animals each
half bushel or more daily, in connec-
ton with dry fodder, readily yielding
from five hundred to eight hundred
bushels an acre. They may be rapidly
dug from the soil where they grew, by
using common plow close to the side
of the row and subsoil plow under
them. We find iteasy to raise them on
rich land for five cents Il bushel, and
they are the only root crop which may
safely remain all winter where they
grew, and thus save much labor re-
quired for harvesting and storing other
crops for winter 2. The second crop,
closely following the parsnips, is winter
rye, heavily sown early in autumn, and
giving an abundance of green food in
May. 3. Next is orchard grass, an
early and rank grower. 4. Then
red clover, and 5, peas and oats,
6. Corn. sown in furrows Mt the rate
of bushel or two an acre, may be
made to give successive crops from
August till autumnal frosts. Hungarian
grass sown early in summer, and cut
before the seed forms, will give good
feed in August. Peas and oats will be
good crop towards the latter half OF
summer AS barley will endure fal
frosts, when corn and other crops are
killed, a crop of barley sown late enough
, to give copious supply of green foot
before winter, will be found valuable
Sorghum may be used to advantage fol
late crop. taking care to feed it before
the exterior of the stalks becomes hare
/ and horny, or else by cutting it fine il
, a stalk-cutter. 1t is longer in drying
than corn, and may be kept fresh late
after being cut up. There will be al
advantage in planting several ditferen
crops for soiling, as they often succeed
. alike in different seasons.
After the green barley has come t.
= an end, the succulent food from the sill,
4 will come into use for the winter Mod
' iications and improvements on thi
I series Of crops may, OF course, be sue
j. gested and adopted by different farmers
; l-Couss'y Gsnt|snsatA